"Crystallography - The Gold Standard: Is it getting tarnished?"

CRYSTALS 2000
Most of the infra-structure needed to enable enhanced functionality
to be added was in place for The Millennium.
Since then the underlying FORTRAN and user accessible features
have continued to be developed in response to the communities
needs.
Publicity material, 2003
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Age Concern
As part of the EPSRC “Age Concern” project the group in
Durham has shared complete access to CRYSTALS source code
and SCRIPTS to help them develop their own user interface.
OLEX2: a complete structure solution, refinement and analysis program
Oleg V. Dolomanov, Luc J. Bourhis, Richard J. Gildea, Judith A. K. Howard and Horst Puschmann
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Age Concern
The project has also given rise to two refinement sub-systems.
smtbx/cctbx
“focusing on those key computational details which have been
the treasures of the classic programs CRYSTALS or SHELX.”
ACA 2010: 07.26.4 Solution and Refinement with the cctbx and smtbx
Luc Bourhis, Oleg Dolomanov, Richard Gildea, Judith Howard, Horst Puschmann
SMTK/cctbx
“provide a modelling design
process, where the model
formulation is kept separate
from the optimization
process.”
SMTK – a small-molecule toolkit library for
crystallographic modelling and refinement
Mustapha Sadki* and David J. Watkin J. Appl.
Cryst. (2011). 44, 52–59
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Age Concern
Regression to the 1990’s
The speed of instruments and computers is such that
crystallographers have become the slowest link.
Once again, we are trying to teach computers some chemistry.
Dave Brown is working on a project to use chemical information
in the form of SMILES strings to help analyse proposed structure
solutions and unpick disorder.
O=S(c1Ncc(C)cc1)(NC(COC(C2=NC=CC=C2)=O)C(OC)=O)=F
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X-Ray Structure
Analysis
The Gold Standard
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Why was X-ray Structure Analysis a Gold
Standard?
•The materials were carefully chosen.
•The materials were already well characterised
•There were no other techniques to compete with it
•The people who did it knew what they were
doing
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Early Structures
J Chem Soc, 1926, 2944
habit &
polymorphism
twinning
pseudosymmetry
hydrogen bond
dimerisation
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The unavailability of computers forced
workers to think about problems
Hexachlorobenzene, 1931
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Hexachlorobenzene - Rigid Body Refinement
Lonsdale, 1931
From the distribution of the h0l intensities, Lonsdale argued
that the 6 (x0z) coordinates of the three Cl atoms could be
replaced by a rigid body with only its orientation and radius
( and R) to be determined
The structure factor expression
can be “simplified” to contain
only two variables.
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Data Collection
Film methods gave views of
large swathes of reciprocal
space alerted the
crystallographer to potential
problems
Serial diffractometers were
about to change that
Apparatus for Measuring Complete Single-Crystal X-Ray Diffraction Data
by Means of a Geiger Counter Diffractometer
Thomas c. Furnas, jr., and David Harker
The Review of Scientific Instruments, volume 26, number 5 May, 1955
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Royal
Institution
Automated
Analogue
Diffractometer
Hilger & Watts
Y190
Stepping motors
moved across a layer
of reciprocal space.
One or two layers of
data could be measured
in 24 hours.
Hilger & Watts
Y290
Chemical Crystallography
Laboratory, Oxford 2000
Fully Automated
Digital
Diffractometer
The computer is a first
generation PDP8, built with
discrete transistors and a
ferrite core. It became know
as the Straight 8
Two Nonius Kccd
instruments.
Booking:
8am-2pm
2pm-6pm
6pm-8am
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Chemical Crystallography
Laboratory, Oxford
Agilent Supernova
In 2011, data collection from fair crystals is no
longer an issue.
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Digital Computing
Digital computers have revolutionised
crystallography.
Has computing replaced thinking?
Bob Sparks matrix-accumulation benchmark:
Microvax 3800 (1989)
1,824 secs
1.8Ghz Athlon, (2005)
3secs
3.0Ghz Intel Duo (2010)
1sec
We can now do in one day what would have taken three
days in 2005, and almost five years in 1990
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Crystallography 2011
In 2011 we have diffractometers of great sensitivity, we have
low-energy laboratory sources and we have immensely powerful
synchrotron sources.
Work at 100K is routine, and 10K reasonably feasible.
Diamond Anvil Cells enable samples to be examined at pressures
up to 10 GPa
Computers work at breath-taking speeds.
In effect, we have amazing technology available.
What science can we do with it?
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What’s Happening to Crystallography?
“The age of intramolecular structural chemistry is
declining for small molecules.
There is very little that can be added to the average
intramolecular geometrical data collected by use
of the Cambridge Structural Database; anything
at variance with these well-established averages is
Gavezzotti & Flack, 2005
most probably wrong.”
http://www.iucr.org/iucr-top/comm/cteach/pamphlets/21/21.html
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Just Stamp-Collecting?
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The Journals of Squeaky-Clean Structures
On a one-by-one basis, “perfect” structures probably have
a very limited crystallographic interest.
“X-ray crystallography unequivocally confirmed the
stereochemistry of the 2-C-methyl group.”
Rint
2.8%
R1
2.9%
wR2
6.8%
94% with I>2σ(I)
3,4-O-Isopropylidene-2-C-methyl-D-galactonolactone
N. Dai, S. F. Jenkinson, G. W. J. Fleet and D. J. Watkin
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The Journal of Rotten Structures
Much more interesting are the careful
but imperfect analyses, where the
analyst has had real problems which he
is happy to share with the community.
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Halogen-bond Templated Rotaxane (R1 = 15.0%)
Even low temperature synchrotron data were weak
and the sample suffered radiation damage
Final refinement had a data to parameter
ratio of 3.6 :1 and required 4401 restraints
Theta
Completeness vs Theta
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The Cambridge Structural Database
Museum?
Grave Yard?
Gold Mine?
The CCDC grew out of the activities of the crystallography group
led by Dr Olga Kennard OBE FRS in 1965.
Building a database is now an easy technology.
The scientific contribution from CCDC is the expertise to
devise products to turn data into knowledge.
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The CSD and Validation
PLATON may let us know if
there is something wrong with the
physics.
The CSD may let us know that
there is something wrong with the
chemistry.
Simple frequency distributions
of bond lengths are meaningless.
In MOGUL, bond lengths have
been classified according to their local
environment.
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CRYSTALS interface to MOGUL
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Just Stamp-Collecting?
Not entirely
Structure determination by X-ray crystallography has become a vital
tool for modern preparative chemistry.
This form of crystallography is certainly a technology, but the
technology is immature.
The scientific challenge now is to make the total systems robust
when used by informally trained chemists.
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Automatic Structure Solution and
Refinement
Direct methods and charge flipping are now
very powerful procedures for phasing a
Fourier map to the level that the atomic
skeleton of the structure can be seen.
However, physics alone cannot always make automatic
unambiguous assignment of atomic sites.
Worse than that, some molecules refuse to fit into normal space
groups - they are disordered.
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Disorder
Disorder is a bottomless pit into which crystallographers throw
time, effort and money.
When disorder is eventually resolved, it is often clear that the
resolution has added nothing significant to the scientific value of
the structure. Was it worth the effort?
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What is the cost of an X-ray
Structure Analysis?
About ½ of the structures
going through a laboratory
could be made ready for
publication in one working
day.
Number of
Structures
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What is the cost of an X-ray
Structure Analysis?
 Instrument _ cost
Space _ charge
Salary _& _ overheads
COST  


 write _ off _ period

 consumable s 

However, most of these cost continue even if the instruments
are turned off.
The recoverable cost of not doing an analysis
is perhaps only $30.
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Bringing Down the Cost
A number of things can be done to bring down the unit cost:
1. Put more samples on the instruments
each day. This increases the burden on
the analyst, and may even require
additional analysts
2. Provide better automation for the
treatment of disorder.
3. Have a clear strategy to limit the amount of time spent on
each structure.
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Cost-benefit Analysis
In the UK, research funding is not so generous that we can be
wasteful of resources.
Before starting an analysis it is important to declare what
the analysis will be used for.
It is important to agree with the customer if/how the work will
be published.
The experiment and data processing can then be tailored to
those aims.
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Cost-benefit Analysis
Occasionally the analysis proves to be much more
important than was foreseen.
In general, it is a better use of resources to re-measure
a few data sets than to collect everything to the highest
standards first time around.
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The Gold Standard
We do not use a micrometer to
measure the timber for a chicken
house.
Crystallography can still be the Gold Standard, but a gold
standard is not needed for all work.
The analyst simply needs to demonstrate fitness-forpurpose.
If the customer changes the purpose later, that is a
separate issue.
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The Gold Standard
The problem for journals is to understand the purpose
of the work, and see if it is satisfied.
The purpose cannot be evident from the information
currently included in a cif, therefore it is unlikely that a
program can make this decision.
checkCIF may help the referee decide if the analysis is
‘good enough’ for the purpose described in the text.
In the future, cifs may also need to record what the
analysis was ‘good enough’ for.
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Where Next?
The molecular solid state has become interesting in its
own right.
Why does Nature choose to use space groups?
Does Nature use space groups?
What are Z’>1 structures?
What are modulated structures?
How do molecules share information about each other?
How can I get this ****** material to crystallise nicely?
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The Molecular Solid State
• Structure Prediction
Progress is painfully slow.
• Morphology Prediction
Even when the crystal structure in known, reliable
morphology predictions fall a long way short of
experimental observations.
• Growth of x-ray quality crystals. Still a ‘black art’.
Even in a single laboratory, some people have “better
luck” than others.
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KpenV, P1, Z'=4
This chiral molecule in the
non-centrosymmetric
space group P1 would just
love to pack in P-1.
Why can’t these molecules
get their act together, and
crystallise with Z’=2?
Carol Brock calls this
“Frustrated symmetry”
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VONVUP, P21, Z'=2
Another enantiopure material
in a non-centrosymmetric
space group.
There is no pseudo-symmetry.
The blue molecules assume
an L shape.
The green molecules assume
an S shape
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Where Next?
Molecular Structure Determination is a done-deal
Most modern technology depends upon second or third
order effects.
Worrying about whether ‘completeness’ is 89% or
98% is almost irrelevant.
Understanding molecular crystals is a New Frontier
for crystallographers
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I would like to thank the American
Crystallographic Association for
this opportunity to have shared
some of my ideas with its members,
and thank the dozens of colleagues
who helped form those ideas.
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